5TJMBEB OF EUBOPEAtf CATTLE. Ill 



more flourishing. For half a century, the banks of that 

 great river, from the mouth of the Apure as far as Angostura, 

 were known only to the missionary-monks. The exportata- 

 tion of cattle took place from the ports of the northern coast 

 only, viz. from Cumana, Barcelona, Burburata, and Porto 

 Cabello. This dependence on the coast is now much dimi- 

 nished. The southern part of the plains has established an 

 internal communication with the Lower Orinoco ; and this 

 trade is the in ore brisk, as those who devote themselves to it 

 easily escape the trammels of the prohibitory laws. 



The greatest herds of cattle in the Llanos of Caracas are 

 those of the Jiatos of Merecure, La Cruz, Belen, Alta Gracia, 

 and Pavon. The Spanish cattle came from Coro and Tocuyo 

 into the plains. History has preserved the name of the 

 colonist who first conceived the idea of peopling these pas- 

 turages, inhabited only by deer, and a large species of cavy. 

 Christoval Kodriguez sent the first horned cattle into the 

 Llanos, about the year 1548. He was an inhabitant of the 

 town of Tocuyo, and had long resided in New Grenada. 



When we hear of the ' innumerable quantity ' of oxen, 

 horses, and mules, that are spread over the plains of Ame- 

 rica, we seem generally to forget that in civilized Europe, 

 on lands of much less extent, there exist, in agricultural 

 countries, quantities no less prodigious. France, accord- 

 ing to M. Peuchet, feeds 6,000,000 large horned cattle, of 

 which 3,500,000 are oxen employed in drawing the plough. 

 In the Austrian monarchy, the number of oxen, cows, 

 and calves, has been estimated at 13,400,000 head. Paris 

 alone consumes annually 155,000 horned cattle. Germany 

 receives 150,000 oxen yearly from Hungary. Domestic 

 animals, collected in small herds, are considered by agrici J- 

 tural nations as a secondary object in the riches of the state. 

 Accordingly they strike the imagination much less than 

 those wandering droves of oxen and horses which alone fill 

 the uncultivated tracts of the New World. Civilization and 

 social order favour alike the progress of population, and the 

 multiplication of animals useful to man. 



We found at Calabozo, in the midst of the Llanos, an 

 electrical machine with large plates, electrophori, batteries, 



* The thick-nosed tapir, or river cavy (Ciia capyban J, ealtad 

 tkiy*irt in those countries. 



